FBI Director James Comey on Monday morning confirmed that the bureau is investigating Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election — including any links or coordination between members of President Trump's campaign and Moscow.

The bombshell revelation puts an end to months of roiling speculation.

Comey declined to provide more details, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.

“I can promise you we will follow the facts wherever they lead,” Comey vowed.

What is the point of debate you are trying to bring with this link, BlueJayFan? Whether or not the Trump campaign had connections to Russia? Whether or not one thinks this is worth the FBI's time and resources? Whether or not one thinks Comey and co. will follow the facts wherever they lead? This isn't very clear.

We need to find out what the Clinton family had or used on Comey and then Trump could shut down this investigation just like Hillary did hers. I wish the Liberal Democrats would spend as much time on working to improve our country as they do try to take down and make Trump look bad.

We need to find out what the Clinton family had or used on Comey and then Trump could shut down this investigation just like Hillary did hers. I wish the Liberal Democrats would spend as much time on working to improve our country as they do try to take down and make Trump look bad.

Improving the country does not interest them. Then their voting base goes away. Making everyone feel oppressed is their objective, then they can run to the government for protection.

What is the point of debate you are trying to bring with this link, BlueJayFan? Whether or not the Trump campaign had connections to Russia? Whether or not one thinks this is worth the FBI's time and resources? Whether or not one thinks Comey and co. will follow the facts wherever they lead? This isn't very clear.

I think this is better served for the General Board.

I think this thread is very political and debatable just like I think this hearing we a talking about is a witch hunt.

I think what needs to be done is every politician, every aid, every staffer including the Clinton and her staff need to come clean on anything discussed with any Russian official the past 5 years. Good or bad lets get the cards on the table on this Russian stuff. Then we can start the investigation from there.

I think what needs to be done is every politician, every aid, every staffer including the Clinton and her staff need to come clean on anything discussed with any Russian official the past 5 years. Good or bad lets get the cards on the table on this Russian stuff. Then we can start the investigation from there.

Maybe they can discuss how Clinton sold them our Uranium or maybe what Obama meant by "After the election I'll have more flexibility".

Coney admits they've been on Donald's tail since July. Who got him involved before the conventions were held? The wench was clearly a Russian fave who traded USA uranium for Russian campaign contributions. Is he investigating her and the DNC?

One last question: the vaunted FBI has been on the case for 9 months. So far, they got zilch or we'd be hearing about it. 9 months. This isn't a murder mystery. 9 months of checking their electronic surveillance. Will this charade take 48 months for Coney to wrap up?

I know this is predominantly Republican board with no love for anything on the left, but I find it interesting that that 'wiretap' thread hasn't been touched in days. Gee, I wonder why?

Personally, I think this ties in to the "wiretap" discussion. They've been investigating since July, right? Wouldn't that mean they would be doing some kind of electronic surveillance of the Trump campaign?

When Trump was making his "wiretap" claim, I think most Americans understood that to be any type of electronic surveillance. I wonder if Comey and others are splitting hairs by specifically speaking about wiretaps using the strict definition.

Actually saw someone on CNN say that Obama didn't sneak in to Trump Towers to place taps on his his phones.

I know this is predominantly Republican board with no love for anything on the left, but I find it interesting that that 'wiretap' thread hasn't been touched in days. Gee, I wonder why?

You really wonder why? I wonder why the Times reported about wire tapping and someone had to have surveillance on Flynn to find our what has been reported. Now the reporting of no wiretapping just does not add up. Does it not seem strange to you that they report no illegal surveillance, but admit that someone is leaking classified information. Something is wrong in our Govt and when it is the law enforcement departments that are having the problem it scares me.

I know this is predominantly Republican board with no love for anything on the left, but I find it interesting that that 'wiretap' thread hasn't been touched in days. Gee, I wonder why?

Because nothing new has emerged. There is still NO credible evidence that the Russians interfered in the election. Nor has any credible evidence emerged that Trump or his campaign coordinated anything with the Russians. Zip, nada, nothing!

What we have learned today is that the FBI has been investigating whether Trump and his campaign were working with the Russians to effect the election since at least July. This boosts Trump's assertion that he was being spied on. Since it is inconceivable that the Obama administration would not be fully aware of a joint NSA/FBI investigation of a leading presidential candidate six months before the election means that Trumps assertion that "Obama had him wiretapped" is looking truer by the day.

As an aside, today's testimony seemed to trigger more questions than it answered.

Did Trump conspire with a foreign entity/enemy to influence a US election? Well, the risk of that if caught would have been his reputation and business ruined at best and prison time at worst. Considering I don't think even he thought he had a chance to win(or perhaps even wanted to win for that matter) that seems like a pretty astounding risk to take.

Did Russia attempt to influence the election? Probably. Did they have an effect? Maybe. Did they coordinate with Trump? No.

Personally, I think this ties in to the "wiretap" discussion. They've been investigating since July, right? Wouldn't that mean they would be doing some kind of electronic surveillance of the Trump campaign?

When Trump was making his "wiretap" claim, I think most Americans understood that to be any type of electronic surveillance. I wonder if Comey and others are splitting hairs by specifically speaking about wiretaps using the strict definition.

Actually saw someone on CNN say that Obama didn't sneak in to Trump Towers to place taps on his his phones.

That is, a "reasonable person(s)" - one of our favorite legal terms. Good luck with that regarding some camps.

Because nothing new has emerged. There is still NO credible evidence that the Russians interfered in the election. Nor has any credible evidence emerged that Trump or his campaign coordinated anything with the Russians. Zip, nada, nothing!

What we have learned today is that the FBI has been investigating whether Trump and his campaign were working with the Russians to effect the election since at least July. This boosts Trump's assertion that he was being spied on. Since it is inconceivable that the Obama administration would not be fully aware of a joint NSA/FBI investigation of a leading presidential candidate six months before the election means that Trumps assertion that "Obama had him wiretapped" is looking truer by the day.

As an aside, today's testimony seemed to trigger more questions than it answered.

I will agree on your last part- more questions than answers. However, everyone in the intelligence community stated 'no surveillance was ordered'. Now, was Trump a target, or the Russians? I'll use the analogy of a police sting on a drug house, and the Mayor walks in. He gets arrested in the aftermath and says "How DARE you follow me- I'm the mayor!. Mayor, we weren't following you, we're investigating this dope house. Why are you here?

Even Fox news is distancing themselves from this claim and has put Judge Napolitano (sp) on hiatus. And Fox doesn't bow down to pressure

So let's see... the FBI freely admits that they were investigating any ties between Russian officials and the Trump campaign right? Comey did say that, and its right in the article as well. So... if you're investigating any ties between the Trump campaign and ANY Russians do you attempt to spy on ALL Russians everywhere in hopes of catching something... or simply spy on Trump and all his people? It's a no brainer, and Comey is playing semantics EXACTLY like they did with Clinton. In fact, today Comey would not say if there is an investigation of the leaks but admitted there is an investigation into Trump associates. In one breath they say they won't comment on ongoing investigations, and then come out with that crap.

Bottom line, Comey admitted they are in fact investigating Trump associates. One would have to be stupid to think they weren't doing it during the campaign.

I will agree on your last part- more questions than answers. However, everyone in the intelligence community stated 'no surveillance was ordered'. Now, was Trump a target, or the Russians? I'll use the analogy of a police sting on a drug house, and the Mayor walks in. He gets arrested in the aftermath and says "How DARE you follow me- I'm the mayor!. Mayor, we weren't following you, we're investigating this dope house. Why are you here?

There are a couple of critical elements of this story that weaken your analogy IMO:

* There are very specific rules regarding how the NSA handles situations where the "Mayor" (aka, an American citizen) walks into the room while they are spying on a foreign nation. It is against the law for the NSA to "unmask" the American citizen let along "arrest" him. In fact Trey Gowdy pointed out that whoever "unmasks" the identity of a US citizen caught in an NSA surveillance faces up to 10 years in prison.

* You could not arrest the Mayor using information you obtained from an NSA surveillance.

* It would have been very easy for the Obama administration to instruct the Justice Department to investigate Trump & his campaign under the guise of investigating suspected Russian interference in our election. Since the "investigation" involves a foreign country the Obama Justice Department could simply solicit the help of the NSA and it's powerful suite of surveillance tools to conduct the actual investigation. There is plausible deniability to go around if the Obama administration & Justice Department were ever found out: "we didn't do anything wrong we were just investigating those nasty Russians messing with our election".

* Now with the Justice Department, FBI & NSA investigating whether the Russians are helping Trump they are free to spy on Trump & his associates. Information is POWER and with the Obama administrations connection to the NSA surveillance of Trump right up to JANUARY 20, 2017, they could gather all sorts of political info to first aid in defeating Trump in the election and then after the election aid the "resistance" in undermining Trump's legitimacy.

Even Fox news is distancing themselves from this claim and has put Judge Napolitano (sp) on hiatus. And Fox doesn't bow down to pressure

No, Fox news is trying to play both sides here. The Murdocks are anti-Trump as they disagree with his brand of populism. They are Australian carpetbaggers who favor & benefit from the open borders Global economic model that Trump threatens.

Sure there are some Fox folks who are strongly pro-Trump (Hannity comes to mind) but there are also a lot of Fox folks are anti-Trump. Fox is nowhere near as united in their support of Trump, if they could even be said to support him, as the main stream media is united in opposition to Trump.

Coney admits they've been on Donald's tail since July. Who got him involved before the conventions were held? The wench was clearly a Russian fave who traded USA uranium for Russian campaign contributions. Is he investigating her and the DNC?

One last question: the vaunted FBI has been on the case for 9 months. So far, they got zilch or we'd be hearing about it. 9 months. This isn't a murder mystery. 9 months of checking their electronic surveillance. Will this charade take 48 months for Coney to wrap up?

and when will the Democrats(Cummings) start complaining about the COSTS of this?

I love Trey Gowdy - In an interview when asked about Trump and the wiretaps should he apologize to Obama if it can not be proved.

" When I make factual errors I apologize, sometimes in marriage even when I do not make a factual error I apologize." - T. Gowdy

Another quote from the same Interview:

"You have the dissemination - the felonious dissemination of classified information that will jeopardize 320 million Americans, and I would love it if our friends in the main stream media would focus on the leak as much as they did the wiretap tweet" - Trey Goudy

I can truthfully say I do not like lawyers that are Politician's, but I sure do like to hear Trey Goudy speak the truth.